Thrifty Mom Reviews Hansen's Black Cherry Soda

On a recent lunch with a friend I decided to try Hansen's Natural Black Cherry Soda. I shy away from products which contain high fructose corn syrup and since all Hansen Beverages are flavored with Pure Cane Sugar I was excited to see this beverage did meet my dietary needs.

Reading the ingredients I found that Hansen's Black Cherry Soda derives its natural flavor from extract of Washington cherries. The soda is 100% natural and do not contain any preservatives, caffeine, sodium, refined sugar, artificial flavors or colors. It does contain pure triple filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavors & extracts of Madagascan vanilla, German and/or Washington cherry & lactic acid.

One Twelve Ounce Bottle of Hansen's Black Cherry Soda contains 160 calories, Total Fat 0g/ 0%, Sodium 0mg/ 0%, Total Carb 44g/15%, Protein 0g/ 0%.

Pros:

I love when soda comes in a bottle. It makes me feel like I am drinking a beverage that is a little more pure then the canned variety. It actually has a very distinctive brown glass bottle. The bottle alone complete with the full-bottle label makes it a tasty treat.

I liked the fact that it was a completely natural soda with no added preservatives. What you see is what you get. It had a very strong black cherry flavor. I did not notice any aftertaste.

This beverage was nicely carbonated. I was happy that they did not try to over carbonate the beverage in order to make up for the lack of preservatives. It does happen. The Hansen Black Cherry was smooth. I drank it over ice with a straw and did not need to let it sit before drinking it.

Cons:

This beverage definitely had a strong sugar taste. It was overly sweet. It could be in part because I am not used to drinking sodas, but I felt like I was drinking several teaspoons of sugar water layered underneath the Black Cherry.

The beverage is a little pricey. I paid $1.75 from a local restaurant for one bottle. You can purchase the beverage in cans only for 24 cans for the price of $24.99. I really could not justify having this beverage as a mainstay of my families diet. But then again I couldn't justify having pop on a regular basis either so it is a wash.

I feel that 44g of carbohydrates is a bit high for a pop. Mountain Dew only has 31 grams of carbohydrates per serving. You would have to take into consideration that Hansen's serving size is 12 ounces and Mountain Dew measures their serving size as an eight ounce serving. The would give Mountain Dew a 45.5 grams of carbohydrates per twelve ounce serving, not much different then the Hansen's Black Cherry Soda.

I do think this beverage makes for a good treat, but I would not drink it on a regular basis base on the cost, number of carbohydrates, and slightly over the top sugar flavor. All and all it is a good beverage.